Various means have been used in the prior art to ascertain the force vectors of tilted rocket nozzles without determining the degree of composite influence on rocket flight accuracy. Tilted nozzles are the natural result of conventional manufacturing tolerances and methods. In order to determine in advance the effect of tilt, prior art has used such instruments as a Hilger-Watts Optical collimator or a Sheffield Air Gage. The aforementioned instruments were used generally to measure only the angle of nozzle tilt. The problem with the collimator in such application is that it can inspect only one nozzle at a time. While the air gage can check a plurality of nozzles simultaneously, neither it nor the collimator is capable of measuring the magnitude and direction of tilt or the composite effect of tilt on spin, pitch and yaw.
The present equipment described herein overcomes the aforementioned problems by its unique design.